Alice Wu

Opinion | Don’t allow the anti-vaccine movement to spread through Hong Kong

Measles is making a global comeback because of misinformation and ignorance. The Hong Kong government needs to dispel the false claims and ensure the facts are freely available, to avoid an epidemic in the densely-populated city

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Hong Kong’s immunisation rate is quite high but as an international travel hub, the city is not spared imported measles cases. For Hongkongers, the return of face masks in public is a reminder of the 2003 Sars crisis. Photo: Felix Wong

Alice Wu

Published: 7:30am, 15 Apr 2019Updated: 7:30am, 15 Apr 2019

Many people are gearing up for Easter break but are worrying about how to protect themselves and their loved ones from measles – especially those with unborn babies and children under one who are too young to be vaccinated. The disease killed 2.6 million people every year, before widespread vaccination in the 2000s.

Although the World Health Organisation declared measles had been eradicated from Hong Kong in 2016, there has been a global resurgence of the disease: the past year has seen outbreaks in places from Israel to the United States, and in Hong Kong alone, about 60 people have been infected this year. Just last month, a New York suburb declared a state of emergency. New Yorkers in four zip codes were required to get vaccinated or face fines, thus reviving the debate about mandatory vaccination.

The real issue is, of course, the anti-vaxxers of the world, putting other people in their neighbourhoods at risk and threatening public health systems. Measles is supposed to have been eliminated, but now we are worrying about it again because of dangerous misinformation and stubborn ignorance. A small 1998 study that incorrectly linked the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism has long been discredited but is still being spread by anti-vaccine campaigners.

The sheer hypocrisy of the anti-vaccination movement lies in its very dependence on herd immunity. To put it another way, this is shameless freeloading: those who feel entitled to the privilege of not getting the jab are really counting on the mass majority who have been vaccinated to protect them against the disease.

Without herd immunity, a disease that has been eliminated or is close to eradication, like measles, makes a comeback. This is why cities like New York are resorting to mandatory vaccination to stop the public health crisis from spreading.